Is it just me or have we lost perspective on what "hard work" is? Since Mr. Flanagan and I have taken residence on the 'ole farmstead, life has introduced us to a new set of work rules. Don't get me wrong we had known the sense of work before this time. Mr. Flanagan worked very hard as a teacher of over 20 years instructing many generations of 8th graders (the formative years you know) on multiple facts of our American history...over and over and over again for almost 29 years. No wonder he is such a whiz at remembering historical facts! I myself had invested into the workforce as museum administration sided with a number of years working with individuals with special needs. Certainly we are not adverse to working hard and completing a days work. Often with our work day ended at around 4 pm, we would head home to the comforts of our warm home or apartment never thinking twice about whether or not the place was heated, and how. One of us would pull whatever would be for dinner that evening out of the constantly cool refrigerator or the icy freezer. I guess we never thought about the fact that we could grab a pan out of the cupboard and instantly we had heat to cook it on the stove top or in the oven. Perhaps it was a pizza we had for dinner that night. I guess I never thought about how 'fast' fast food was when I was living in the big old city of Milwaukee.

My how things have changed! Now before we go to work we head outside first to do chores. If we want to turn up the heat in the farmhouse...we need to make sure the outdoor wood stove has more than a few coals in it...and if we want it to be warm for the winter we sure as shootin' have to make sure there is enough wood in the barn!

And fast food...? Well fast food for me these days is what I processed myself. Now instead of the Orv's or Jack's pizza, I have my own pizza dough in the freezer...my own pizza sauce in glass jars on the shelves grown from my own garden (spices and all). The cheese and meat is processed and purchased from a local farmer who keeps his livestock grass-fed and healthy without all those pesky steroids, hormones, and GMO feeds. And almost all of our fast food here comes from the gardens we grew, and the local farmers' markets. Hours I spent in the farmhouse kitchen watching over the pressure cooker and the boiling water canner processing fruits, berries gleaned from the land, vegetables, soups, and meat.

In addition to our employment outside of the home, Mr. Flanagan and I have entered a different "work day". One that gets us up before the sun rises..and often we don't get back into the house until the sun has set. Gathering and cutting wood (and making sure we had more than enough to last the winter) was quite the job. Usually at the end of a wood cutting, loading, hauling, and stacking day we would lament, and rub our sore shoulders and arms. At the same time we would appreciate the work we invested for the day knowing the growing piles of stacked logs would provide us with warmth, and save us money on hefty heating bills. My mind has a hard time wrapping around how our ancestors took the time to procure wood for shelter and heat. I cannot imagine how long it took a man or woman from the past to slowly and methodically "saw" up some logs for a home, or for heating and cooking. How thankful I am for the chainsaw, fuel, oil, and truck we were able to use to gather enough wood for the winter. In one month we gathered what would have taken our ancestors most likely an entire six months to gather!

There is always something to do on this here farmstead...feeding the horses, mucking the stalls, gathering the eggs, cleaning the hen house, hauling firewood, stacking the hay bales...the list goes on and on. BUT, those hay bales were grown by Roger, a local farmer, using tractors and balers certainly not sown or reaped by hand. Mucking the stalls is done by tractor certainly not by the sweat of the brow, and shoveling out the pine bedding of the hen house, while relying on a shovel and wheelbarrow, is certainly not a job that would break one's back.

Many of us have it easy here in 2013 when it comes to the work day. As our pastor stated, "We have all this modern technology from cell phones, tablets, and computers to make our days easier and give us more time, but yet we all complain we just don't have enough time in the day!"

Why is that? Why do we not have enough time in the day to fit in the things we need to do? Our ancestors worked from sun up to sun down...folks in the summer time that was an 18 hour day! And we complain when instead of an 8 hour shift we have to work a 12 hour shift (I am guilty!) Quoting our pastor, "Heaven's to Betsy we do not get the 4 hours of television watching in we are accustomed to!"

From wood for heat and fast food, once again history is teaching me how to put things into perspective and to remember to appreciate a day's hard work.

Proverbs 6:6-8 "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer, or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest."